Groups Appeal Court's Decision in Homosexual Father's Custody Case

(CNSNews.com) - Two homosexual advocacy groups will argue Tuesday before the Maryland Court of Special Appeals on behalf of a homosexual father in a custody case.

Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights will represent Ulf Hedberg, who is barred from living with his homosexual partner while raising his 12-year-old son.

Hedberg and his ex-wife, who were Virginia residents at the time, separated when their son was four years old. The son lived with Hedberg and his partner, Blaise Delahoussaye, in a home they bought together in suburban Virginia.

After the boy's mother moved to Florida, she petitioned the court for custody. A Virginia court issued an order giving Hedberg physical custody of his son as long as Delahoussaye moves out of the home. The homosexual couple sold their house and moved into smaller apartments in Maryland.

Lambda Legal and NCLR are asking the court to remove the custody restriction because of what they say is "the drastic decline in quality of life it has caused for the child, and also because it is unconstitutional."

The Virginia court based its decision on the state sodomy law, which was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 along with 12 other sodomy laws nationwide.